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Audio Demos
MOTU - Electric Keys
Electric Keys puts a slice of music history at your fingertips with the most complete collection ever of classic and vintage electric pianos, clavs, organs, strings machines, tape sampler and other electric keyboard instruments.
Electric Keys is a cross-platform virtual instrument that delivers authentic sounds of 50 classic, vintage electric keyboard instruments from the last 40 years. This massive 40GB sound library includes over 20,000 meticulously crafted 24-bit 96 kHz multi-samples of legendary electric pianos, electric organs, clavinets, Wurlitzers, tape samplers, string machines, keyboard basses and other rare and exotic electric keyboard instruments.
Recreate the popular keyboard sounds and riffs you know so well from your favorite recordings of the last four decades of rock, pop, funk and jazz, or create your own unique style with an intriguing assortment of rare electric keyboard instruments never before offered in a virtual keyboard product - and sure to delight even vintage keyboard devotees.
Electric Keys is beautiful to look at and easy to use on screen. Load, save and combine factory or custom presets. Use the virtual effects rack to combine, apply and save chained multi-effects, including chorus, reverb, delay and more. It’s easy, fast and fun to play and layer professional, authentic electric keyboard sounds.
Advanced software features include MIDI control of nearly all parameters, 256-note polyphony per instrument, ultra-low latency, efficient disk streaming for fast preset loading, world-renowned UVI Engine™ for superb sound quality, universal plug-in compatibility and stand-alone operation. You can even load and play Electric Keys sounds using MachFive for convenient, consolidated operation with your other sound libraries.
Electric Keys supports all major plug-in formats on Mac OS X and Windows (XP and Vista), including VST, DXi, MAS, Audio Units and RTAS. It also runs as a stand-alone application, turning any laptop or desktop computer into the ultimate electric keyboard instrument.
Sound Quality
Electric Keys sounds have been expertly recorded and mastered to the very highest standards for use in live performance and recording projects of any kind.
Fifty well-preserved and maintained vintage instruments were used to create the sounds in Electric Keys, including models from Fender, Yamaha, Korg, Roland, Hammond, Wurlitzer, Hohner, Elka, Farfisa, Mellotron, Moog, RMI, Arp and others.
Most instrument samples are supplied at 24-bit 96 kHz resolution, but they can be played at any standard sample rate via Electric Keys' flexible 32-bit UVI™ playback engine.
Presets consist of carefully crafted multi-samples with multiple velocities, layers and/or release samples, depending on the instrument. Samples are streamed from disk, so even large presets load quickly and conserve computer memory.
Authentic Design
With a simple and attractive software interface, Electric keys is easy to use and beautiful to look at.
The Electric Keys window offers a few simple controls, including volume, pan, tone and tremolo settings.
The two preset slots allow you to layer two sounds using the convenient multi-column preset browser. When a preset loads, the background displays the "skin" for the corresponding bank, but the controls and their operation remain the same, regardless of the unique look and feel for each bank.
Once one or two sounds are loaded, you can simply play, adjusting parameters as desired, while CPU-efficient 256-note polyphony ensures that notes are never cut off due to voice-stealing.
The three-dimensional piano keys across the bottom of the Electric Keys window highlight during playback. You can even click the keys to "play" them and audition sounds.
Advanced features
While simple and easy to use, Electric Keys offers all the advanced features you'd expect from a state-of-the-art virtual instrument.
Expert Settings
When you want to dig in a little deeper, open the Expert Settings pane. Tweak away with filters, envelopes, modulators, transposition, and more. Load two sounds and assign each a key range to create instant splits or layers.
MIDI control
All parameters can be automated via convenient "MIDI learn". Simply right-click any control to assign any MIDI controller.
Combis
You can load and save "combis" consisting of a snapshot of the entire plug-in, including effects. Combis can be shared among plug-in formats and the stand-alone version — even across computer platforms.
Dozens of factory presets and combis are supplied.
Multi FX Rack
The separate FX rack opens up a world of possibilities, from adding just a touch of warmth with the amp simulator to advanced sound design with chained multi-effects.
Click the FX button to open the FX-Rack, which is a separate window with eight effects that can be applied individually or in combination as a multi-effect to any preset.
Included effects:
- Amp Simulator
- Filter
- Chorus
- Flanger
- Phaser
- UVInyl (to add "wear and tear")
- Delay
- Reverb
Mix & match
Since effects can be loaded, created and saved independently of instrument presets, it's easy to mix and match effects with presets, allowing you to experiment with practically infinite combinations. Choose from dozens of included presets, or create and save your own. Quickly navigate the browser with your mouse or computer keyboard.
Total control
All effects parameters can be automated or modulated with one-click "MIDI Learn" CC assignments. Control every parameter from your MIDI controller or sequencer, including bypass of individual FX or the entire FX Rack.
Twelve soundbanks
MOTU Electric Keys provides over 40 GB of world-class electric keyboard sounds organized in twelve soundbanks.
Each soundbank has its own authentic look ("skin"). You can install on your hard drive only the banks you wish to use, and split the banks across multiple drives to make the best use of available disk space.
Listen to examples of the Soundbanks at www.motu.com
Audio Demos
Instruments
50 instruments were used to create the sounds in Electric Keys, including:
- Fender Rhodes® Mark I, Mark II, Mark V, Rhodes Bass & Custom
- Yamaha® CP80, CP30, CP10, GS1, GS2, CE20, SS30 and SK20
- Wurlitzer® 200A and Butterfly 270
- Hohner® Clavinet Model C, E7 & D6, Planet M, Electra-piano, Electra Piano, Guitaret, Basset, Bass 2 & 3
- Weltmeister™ Claviset
- Hammond™ B-3, C-3 and M-100
- Korg® CX-3, PE-2000, Polyphonic Ensemble and Lambda
- Philips™ Philicorda
- Elka Organ, Rhapsody
- Vox™ Continental (Italian and English)
- Farfisa® Compact Duo
- Roland® VP-330
- Solina™ String Ensemble
- Eminent 310
- Excelsior™ String Synthesizer
- Crumar™ Performer
- Eko™ Stradivarius
- Siel™ Orchestra
- Hohner/Logan™ String Melody and Piano String Synthesizer
- Mellotron® M400
- Moog® Taurus
- RMI™ Keyboard Computer 2
- Arp® Solina String Synthesizer